COLUMN: 'Game Mag Weaseling': Mag Roundup 3/1/08
It cost me many weeks of hard work, much endurance, and quite possibly my sanity, but we finally receieved printed copies of PiQ Issue 1 the other day. What a relief! I actually have been working on something for the past little while, and not just been ferrying my bloated body to and fro between the office and my condo for no reason! What a refreshing experience!
I don't want to reveal the cover until readers begin to receive the mag, but you can see a small snippet of it to the left. As you can see, we've got a thrilling expose into the world of dirty toilet seats. I'm thinking about a multi-spread feature on graft and corruption in the plumber's helper manufacturing industry for Issue 2, so stay tuned.
Anyway, enough tooting about my own mag -- let's start looking at all the lovely game magazines (and also Beckett Massive Online Guide) that were released over the past couple weeks. I wanted to do more commentary, but I've got a deadline-induced cold, so I'm going to lie on my couch right now and watch RoboCop.
Electronic Gaming Monthly March 2008 (Podcast)
Cover: Revenge of the PS3!
Fortunately for all of us, the cover is not devoted to a preview feature. It's divided into eight "reasons" why the PS3 will do lovely in '08, and doesn't descent into preview-land until the final reason -- the games, of course. The rest of it is a nicely researched, well-written look into the full situation surrounding the system right now.
The other bit that caught my eye: "Funny Business," three pages of game developers telling humorous stories about their careers. fun, although for some reason the images on one of the pages are all pixelated, as if someone saved a PDF at the incorrect compression setting or somesuch. Ah well.
Edge March 2008
Cover: LEGO Indiana Jones
This! This is the cover Game Informer ought to have had last month! Not to mention the internal feature, too! It's lovely and hilarious -- while it's mostly "The developer said this and this and that's pretty rad" in style, you can tell the author made an effort to get into the developers' heads, at least, and figure out what they're really after beyond the PowerPoint presentation. Another feature takes EGM's cover and asks the next obvious question -- how will the Xbox 360 survive in '08? Its answers are a fair bit more business-oriented than EGM's reasons for why the PS3 will reign supreme, but it makes for a more compact (and interesting) piece overall for industry watchers. Further features on the sudden rise of game-themed movies and the future of the racing genre round out the middle.
Sometimes I wonder if the top difference between Edge and US mags these days is that Edge is 130 pages every month, allowing it more space for longform pieces, while magazines this side of the pond struggle to hit 100. Could that really be it? Could it be time for mags to work on their page sizes a little? Is that so impossible?
Play March 2008
Cover: Mirror's Edge
Another hot-sclusive reveal for Play (although technically this was on Edge's cover a while back), Mirror's Edge gets the graphically rich Play treatment this month. The game's definitely further along nowadays, and it (along with the feature) look great. There's another hot reveal feature for Tales of Vesperia, although the vast majority of it is interview content with the rather nerdy-looking director and producer.
The back end of the mag contains the most anime content I've seen out of a Play issue in a while -- a 2007 overview, similar to the 2007 game roundup the editors did last month, along with some commentary from each editor around the office. The opening introductory blurb has what may be the most Play-like passage I have yet to see: "There's no such thing as a cottage industry in the US any longer. Sadly, we've been driven to the brink by greedy unscrupulous corporate megalomaniacs with tiny penises who won't be happy until we all have credit card numbers and membership data tattooed on our foreheads. I have an idea of what companies might take anime to a level where it can thrive in the US< but that's a topic for another feature (coming soon!)." Clear writing, people!
Cover: Command & Conquer Red Alert 3
My favorite cover this roundup, no doubt, and the feature's pretty rad as well though a bit too jargon-laden for my non RTS loving eyes.
Oddest non-endemic ad of the month: LifeLock, featured in this issue, featuring Mr. "My Social Security # is 457-55-5462" Guy.
GamePro April 2008
Cover: "Where is... GEARS OF WAR 2?"
If you want a great example of how to make a cover feature out of not-very-much, GamePro's it this month -- although, admittedly, game editors get asked "Where's my sequels?!" all the time by readers, so this may actually be a bit of a genius stroke. The features inside are half random industry quotes and half equally-random speculation, and it's oddly brilliant to read. I heartily approve, despite myself.
Beckett Massive Online Game February/March 2008
Cover: WOW vs. Warhammer
Despite my best efforts at mind-control to force them to fold, Beckett MMO is still going strong and at its eleventh issue. The special feature on the cover takes up one spread and maybe 400 words, a bunch of random plinking abouut which game ripped off whom that's totally useless. Whyyyy?
A little Wii for you
Spring specials are a-coming, and I bought them all, because I am a silly American who spends his money on useless trinkets. We seem to be getting a lot of Wii coverage on the newsstand -- something that echos all the Nintendo 64 specials and seasonal mags in my collection.
The Wii Gamers' Guide Spring Edition from GamePro is much like the previous one, a mix of retreads and original content that looks much like a typical GP issue that covers nothing but Wii stuff. Nintendo Power Presents the 2008 Wii Game Guide looks a bit more professional design-wise, but its innards are composed almost entirely of old NP review reprints.
Ultimate Videogame Codebook (CHEATS!) Volume 14
And then, oh no, it's time for my good friend CHEATS! to lighten my wallet. I'm not exactly sure what the deal is, but every local copy I've seen of those book only mentions the Canadian price on the cover, although the UPC rings up $US19.99 all the same. Was I ripped off?
[Kevin Gifford breeds ferrets and runs Magweasel, a site for collectors and fans of old video-game and computer magazines. He's also Executive Editor of PiQ.]
